Fading
by Akanasu
Summary: A quick, one-shot fic...Yugi is turning away from Yami, but at what cost? Yami seems lost without Yugi to protect and resorts to drastic measures. I'd appreciate it if you reviewed it! ^_^


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FADING  
  
by Akanasu  
  
This a quick fanfic, and well, I'm entering into a Yu-Gi-Oh fanfiction contest..check it out here: http://www.geocities.com/yugiohfanfiction/  
  
(By the way, my other fic, some of you may have read - "Stranded" - well, I said I'd enter it into the fanfiction contest, but I decided I wanted to enter a different one, and voila.)  
  
Enjoy! And please review afterwards! ^_^  
  
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Everything eventually fades away to nothing...  
  
Yami sat there, emotions swimming through his blood like it was a lake at a summer camp. However, these were murky waters, and this particular lake's inhabitants were not so friendly. The waters were deep and foreboding, proposing a challenge that only those with Everything to risk would dare to take up.  
  
But there was no lake. There was only Yami, sitting in this dark little room, hopefully where nobody would find him. Yami, sitting alone in the darkness, holding death in his hands very delicately, fiddling with it like a cat would with yarn. He knew that it could slip at any time, that the slightest miscalculated move was lethal - but it was delicious, this feeling of recklessness, of apathy. He was high on insanity, drunk on his own tears, feeling nothing, thinking nothing, barely noticing that his hands were moving as though according to their own will. And now he just sat there, death being toyed with lazily in his hands.  
  
He ran his finger along the edge of death. It was very smooth, and rather sharp as well. The shiny metal edge led to a thick black handle; Yami stopped his finger at that connection. A miniscule tingle caused him to look down at his finger with a very slight interest. A tiny red line ran across it: the mark of death.  
  
Death was very shiny. Yami could very easily look into it and see his own face staring back from the shining depths of the mirrored object, competing in a staring contest that could never have a victor. Looking at his reflection often reminded Yami of Yugi, minus the slight difference in appearance.  
  
Yugi. He was always a sweet little thing. Always looking out for everyone. Everyone, that is, except for himself. Poor little guy, that Yugi Motou, all too often getting knocked around by bullies.  
  
It was always something. Sometimes his hair had offended the bullies, for example, or maybe he was just too small in their eyes. Hell, maybe it was the fact that he never fought back.  
  
He never fought back. It was against everything he stood for, and he simply couldn't lower himself to their level. And if he ever did, it would have accomplished nothing. He would still lie there, wounded, bruised, cut up, battered, pummeled, beaten and barely conscious. It would happen whether he fought back or not. It always did. So Yugi had decided that he would instead save his energy for dragging himself home, tattered as he was.  
  
But Yugi knew that Everything would eventually fade away to nothing - so he continued on with life, knowing it could only get better.  
  
Yami had always liked to help Yugi. Once Yami had come along, Yugi was much more confident. Not only did Yami help his twin half out in duels, but would now always come to the rescue when Yugi was being shoved around by some random heartless thugs. And Yami had always enjoyed looking down at Yugi's little face to see it overflowing with relief and gratitude, knowing inwardly that the small one loved him. Knowing that Yugi was safe - and that was all that really mattered to him.  
  
What Yami did not know was that Yugi was getting tired of needing to be saved so often. He was keeping to himself more now, trying hard to shut Yami out of his life, to force himself to put his defenses up, to make himself become tougher. He didn't want to be a weakling. He didn't want to have to depend on anyone. He didn't want a protector. And he was beginning to think that's all Yami ever did - protect him.  
  
And in Yami's eyes, he'd convinced himself that he had done something terribly hurtful or offending to Yugi - But every time he tried to confront his smaller counterpart, Yugi would turn away and mutter some excuse to escape. Yami had simply looked downwards in shame and confusion. He had failed the one person he cared about above the world.  
  
Yami did not know that Everything would eventually fade away into nothing, that Yugi would have to let up sometime, that it would pass with time - so he didn't let it go, causing his emotions to swell up inside of him.  
  
And now all the pain, the frustration, the self-anger, the guilt, all the grief that had been snowing down on Yami, slowly covering him, was now pelting down in sheets of hail. And the hail, stinging him and biting at him, forced him to withdraw, to cover his spiky-haired head, to bury himself in the icy substance. He was suffocating, and had in response shut himself off from his reality, letting go of sanity and releasing his mind from his icy grave.  
  
Yami now held death very still, thinking through the situation. He was getting angrier, animosity inside him swelling like an inflating balloon. Angry, not at Yugi, but at himself, for betraying his beloved little gem. He looked again into the gleaming surface of death. He could barely stand to look at himself, but his face bore so much resemblance to Yugi's that he couldn't bring himself to look away, held stickily to what could quite easily be mistaken for Yugi's face.  
  
His eyes suddenly narrowed, bearing a strange resemblance to those of a feline. The angry thoughts inside him chewed away at his insides like maggots, until he couldn't bear it anymore.  
  
Gripping death with shaking, sweaty hands, he pulled his arm up as high as possible, then, in one quick flash of movement, plunged it deep into his chest. His eyes widened upon contact, and he couldn't stop himself from letting out an anguished scream. He then felt his body leaning helplessly back onto the polished wooden cabinets behind him. He head rolled back and he gasped for breath, his lungs struggling for life, quite against his original intentions.  
  
Then the door to the dark room burst open and Yugi rushed in, almost tripping over himself in panic. He quickly spotted Yami on the floor, and then, taking a little too long to realize what was happening, dived down on the floor and grabbed Yami's face in his small hands.  
  
"Yami..." Yugi could barely manage to sob, his head swirling with misunderstanding and shock. "Yami, why?!"  
  
Yami managed to produce a whisper that seemed to mingle with the blood now dripping out of his mouth: "I'm sorry, Y...Yugi. I'm so-" he coughed violently, spewing blood on Yugi "-so sorry..."  
  
Yugi cried out in despair and leaned in, intending to hug his darker counterpart around Yami's chest, then pulled back in horror as he found a knife in his place. Yugi fell hard onto his hands, and now on all fours, began to cry. His tears, crystal clear and pure, dripped off his baby face into his Yami's pool of blood, which was quickly expanding around the two.  
  
Yami still sat helplessly watching Yugi. He felt more pain, throbbing, pounding, wash over him at the sight of Yugi's tears; the tiny drops falling into his own blood and, after twinkling there for a quick moment, disappeared as the dark substance took over them.  
  
Yami and Yugi, sitting together in a pool of death, where all the crystal faith and hope of little Yugi was being devoured by the cruel, hungry force death while Yami was losing grip on life.  
  
Yami stared straight into Yugi's eyes as he took in a shuddering breath, his last breath, and let it out with a sigh.  
  
Staring as his Everything faded away to nothing. 


End file.
